{mosjrheader Antec Notebook Cooler 200|notebook cooler|}

Antec Notebook Cooler 200 Review

Convection is when moving air transfers heat to or from a surface. This is the method used by most laptop coolers to keep your CPU, GPU and other critical components from overheating. There are three major factors to effective cooling (or heating), namely temperature difference, surface area, and air flow. Any differences in these factors will lead to differences in performance, even for the same cooler. The Benchmark Reviews team tries hard to provide you with fair and repeatable testing. The Antec Notebook Cooler 200 uses all three factors to achieve effective cooling with minimal power. Our tests show which of those factors makes the biggest difference.

1. Temperature Difference:A warm laptop sitting on a warm lap doesn't provide very much cooling. Most laptop coolers have equal gains simply by getting the computer off your lap. Exposing the laptop underside to cooler ambient air causes a larger difference in temperature which results in faster cooling. For comparative testing the temperature difference between laptop components and the air should be held constant. Even if the laptop cooler sits on your lap the air fed through the fan might get some pre-warming and not be as effective.
2. Surface Area: It should seem reasonable that the more area you cool, the better the cooling. If a fan is pointed at one small spot, well, that one spot may get cool, but the rest of the laptop is probably still hot. This is because heat "travels" slowly through most objects. As mentioned above, cooling the surface increases the speed at which heat travels. So if you only cool one spot, you are only increasing the speed at one spot. More area equals more cooling!
3. Air Flow: Surface area and temperature difference are relatively easy to hold constant and to measure. The differences in laptop coolers will largely be differences in air flow! Understanding air flow requires a little bit of magic and large amounts of mathematics! For starters, the air needs to get to the hot parts. Additionally, the faster the flow, the better the cooling. A turbulent air stream (pounding against the surface) cools better than a smooth air stream. There are many more aspects to air flow that we won't cover.

In our tests we'll focus on performance by keeping things constant and simple. While performance is important, function is only part of a good product. Laptops are high movement objects and take a small beating. The laptop cooler needs to take a similar barrage and look cool in the process.

About Antec Inc

Antec, Inc. is the leading global brand of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) markets. Founded in 1986, Antec is recognized as a pioneer in these industries and has maintained its position as a worldwide market leader and international provider of efficient, quiet, and reliable products. Antec has also achieved great success in the distribution channel, meeting the demands of quality-conscious system builders, VARs and integrators.

Antec's offering of enclosures includes a large range of cases, such as its technically advanced Performance One Series, cost-effective New Solution Series and server grade cases designed for the needs of all workstation and server markets. Antec's products also include front line power supplies such as its Signature Series, TruePower Quattro series, NeoPower series, and EarthWatts, the most environmentally friendly power supply available. PC gamers are an increasingly significant consumer of performance components, and many Antec products are geared toward the gaming demographic, like the Twelve Hundred, the premier gamer enclosure. Antec also offers a computing accessories line comprised of many original products, including its patented LED Fans and Notebook Cooling solutions.

Antecis headquartered in Fremont, California, with additional offices in Rotterdam, The Netherlands as well in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. The company's products are sold in more than 30 countries throughout the world. Please visit www.antec.com for more information.

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